


Mystery

by Guinevere137



Series: All my related Valka stories [2]
Category: How to Train Your Dragon (Movies)
Genre: Dialogue Heavy, Gen, Heavy Drinking, Theft
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-07
Updated: 2020-02-07
Packaged: 2021-02-27 20:33:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,343
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22601782
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Guinevere137/pseuds/Guinevere137
Summary: They’d grown up with the concept, honestly. It was a story that had been investigated by his father and several other Chieftains for years, but between the dragons and intertribal war, no one really had time for a mystery thief that really one showed up once in a great while.
Series: All my related Valka stories [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1625899
Comments: 2
Kudos: 8





	Mystery

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this in a university hallway and ended up trying not to grin like a dork the entire time.   
> Also, this is based on a headcanon I have--I just don't see it as feasible that Valka would have gone twenty years entirely undetected.

They’d grown up with the concept, honestly. It was a story that had been investigated by his father and several other Chieftains for years, but between the dragons and intertribal war, no one really had time for a mystery thief that really one showed up once in a great while. 

The first few months after the thief first appeared, rumors circled the trading ships and tribes in abundance. One farmer from the Berserker tribe had claimed for years that he’s seen her—and yes, he’d insisted the thief was a woman. But that man died of a fever when Hiccup was barely five summers old. He’d never met him and had no reason to have any interest in him.

Hiccup hadn’t even thought of the mystery thief for probably close to a decade. It had once been a fascination of his, like trolls and spirits and other fairy tales Gobber had spun for him and the other children, but that was all it had been—a fairy tale. 

So, it was kind of weird to have Eret, drunk and barely coherent, mumbling things about how a dark figure would often enter his childhood village, make off with a few crops, and disappear. Eret was young, but he was three maybe fours years older than Hiccup, so surely, he realized that those stories were just stories?

“Eret,” Astrid started. She leaned over and tried to take the mead away. “Maybe you’ve had a little too much to drink…” Hiccup cast her a thankful glance; he was getting tired of his friend’s drunken rant. 

“My father, Eret,” Eret continued, heedless of his loss of alcohol, “Saw her once. I was ten. He says she arrived with traders as a stowaway, and disappeared with my mother’s boots, a few cod, and some vege…tibles…” He kind of blinked a little, then, slumping over briefly before pulling himself stock straight. He pointed a knowing finger at Hiccup, “That’s how we know she’s a she. She took my mother’s boots, not my father’s.” 

“Didn’t you say he saw her?” Fishlegs suddenly piped up, and Hiccup really wished he hadn’t said anything. They needed to get Eret to bed, not knee-deep in a mead-induced legend. 

Eret waved a dismissive hand. Or maybe he just didn’t have control of his limbs anymore. His head bobbed. “He saw her in a crowd. When the traders first showed…up. He was never…sure, though.” Eret’s head suddenly fell to his chest, and the other Riders thought he was asleep, but almost as quickly as it dropped his head was up again, and his focus was on Hiccup. 

“Chief!” His voice was too loud, and several villagers on the other side of the hall glanced their way. Hiccup winced. “Your mother’s a weird woman,” Eret leaned across the table and waggled his finger at Hiccup. The young Chief frowned, unsure where the change in subject—and the insult to his mother—came from. Kind of thankfully but not really, Eret continued. “She’s been places…heard things…” 

“Uh huh…?” Hiccup was really frowning now, a sneaking suspicion creeping up on him. 

Eret squinted at him, and Hiccup could smell the alcohol on his breath, which escaped his lips in heavy gusts. “Think she knows about this thief? Met her?” Eret sat up straight again. “Do you think she is her?” 

Anything was possible, Hiccup supposed, except this thief was supposed to be a shadow with teleporting powers, or so Gobber and Johann had told him and Fishlegs as children. Still, most legends had a basis in truth…

“I don’t know,” he admitted with finality. He stood. “But I do know you’re drunker than Gobber on Snoggletog, so let’s get you to bed.” He glanced toward Skullcrusher, who gave a long-suffering groan before pushing himself to his feet. That noise had become a common one since Eret had taken up the dragon’s care. 

Skullcrusher nudged Eret with his nose, and the former trapper fell face-first into the table. A huff. The dragon tried again, this time from the side, and his Rider fell to the floor.   
“What you doing, ya great beastie?” Eret mumbled. The Rumblehorn took Eret by the collar and dragged him from the Hall. Astrid snorted in amusement. 

“Couldn’t have done that before he got around to insulting your mother?” she asked. Quietly, Fishlegs clapped them both on the shoulders and retired to his place. 

“It wasn’t really insulting her…” Astrid gave him A Look. “Okay, it was kind of insulting, but only if it’s not true.”

“You don’t actually think it is, do you?” His fiancée sat back, looking surprised. He shrugged. 

“Think about it: She had to survive somehow. She couldn’t live on just fish forever. She’d have died years ago. Plus, she’d have need supplies—like boots and such—and it was usually practical stuff in the stories that went missing.” 

Astrid rolled her eyes. “We’re Vikings, Hiccup, we don’t really have impractical stuff.”

Now it was his turn to put on A Look. “I’m just saying that scrolls and books and stuffed animals never went missing.”

Astrid looked like she was going to retort, but speak of Loki, a voice interrupted them from a few feet away. “What’re you two still doing up?” Hiccup jumped; he didn’t think he’d ever get used to his mother’s ability to sneak up on people. 

“Talking to Eret and Fishlegs—they just went to bed.” Astrid answered smoothly, and Hiccup wondered if she’d known his mother was approaching.   
Valka slipped into a seat beside him, pinning him between herself and Astrid. Hiccup glanced between the two of them. 

“Hey, Mom…” he began. Astrid gave him a Don’t You Dare glare that for once, had zero effect on him. “Eret was talking about this thief…see, when we were growing up, rumors went all around the islands and tribes about some Mystery Thief. People were always wondering who it was. A lot of people even think they were a woman. At any rate, Eret wanted to know, and now I’m curious: did you ever meet anyone like that? Or even hear of this person?” 

Valka wasn’t one to get uncomfortable easily, but something about what he said must have hit a nerve. Either she had known the thief at some point or was the thief, either way, she was blushing and ducking her head. Suddenly, Astrid knew where Hiccup got that reaction from. 

“Oh...y’know how it is…traveling…living alone…You tend to come up with needs for things you took for granted before…” She ran her index finger idlily along the rings on the table. Hiccup grinned. 

“It was you, wasn’t it?” His mother shrugged. 

“I can’t say, really, legends being what they are. But…it is safe to say that some may have been…inspired…by me. In the early days, o’course. Before I learned to make things myself.” 

“You didn’t!” Astrid cried, but she didn’t sound upset. She was smiling; if anything, she was amused. 

“Well, a girl’s got to eat!” Valka argued playfully. 

The three of them laughed, but soon enough Hiccup was standing. He kind of regretted that move, though, as his leg throbbed in protest, but he needed to stand to at least go find Toothless. “Alright, alright, well. Mom, Milady. Tonight has been…interesting. We can talk in the morning, right?” Astrid stood and took his hand, a silent offer to walk him home, while his mother smiled and nodded. She made no move to leave. 

Hiccup wasn’t particularly concerned. Valka had an odd habit of sleeping wherever she landed in the evenings. He smiled at her, and she returned the gesture before he and Astrid headed for the door. “Oh, and Mom?” He turned to look at her. She stared right on back, eyes wide and expectant. He grinned. “Let’s not tell Eret you’re the thief, huh? I don’t think anyone wants to hear him ramble on about it forever.” 

Valka’s smile grew and she winked. 

With more laughter, Hiccup headed off to bed.


End file.
